Policy: Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act
The HITECH Act is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 that was meant to create incentives that were related to healthcare informatics, including incentives related to the use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) among healthcare providers. The Act anticipated in expanding the exchange of the electronically protected health information (ePHI) between physicians, doctors and hospitals and other entities that store the information to reduce the cost of healthcare by sharing (“health information technology for economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act),” 2009).
Impact of the HITECH Act on system implementation
The HITECH Act increased the potential liability for non-compliance and stringent enforcement by expanding the scope of privacy and security protections available under the HIPAA Act. Healthcare providers also received monetary incentives for demonstrating meaningful use of EHR. The Act also poses a threat of penalization to providers who do not achieve meaningful use of EHR in the future (Norris, Hinrichs, & Brown, 2015).
Impact of Hitech Act on clinical care, patient/provider interactions, and workflow
The Act has significantly impacted clinical care patient interaction and workflow in all healthcare facilities. The vast amount of data collected by collected across different healthcare settings has enhanced patient care. Healthcare providers have been able to access pertinent patient information quickly throughout the facility and beyond, therefore providing safe, comprehensive, and evidence-based care (Lin, Lin, & Chen, 2019). Access to complete and accurate information by healthcare providers has enhanced patient/provider interaction. The system exposes potential safety problems and enables providers to avoid more serious consequences for patients. In addition, the HITECH Act has led to the reduction of medical errors and improved patient safety (Biddle & Milstead, 2016). The Act has affected workflow designs in many facilities. Adoption of the EHR has changed several things, including managing messages, scheduling patients, conducting exams, renewing medications, and checking-in patients, among other activities. The high influx of massive data also required facilities to have professionals who can manage and analyse it. The professionals should be well versed in both medicine and informatics, and their role is to collect, interpret and study the data and the operations of the information system and ensure meaningful use is achieved (Fleming et al., 2013).
Organizational policies and procedures that are in place to address the HITECH Act
The organization has put stringent controls in place regarding the use, storage, accessing and analysing patient information within the facility. Only authorised staff is allowed access, and they are required to strictly follow the HIPAA Act guidelines on privacy and confidentiality of patient information. They should have specific credentials (login and password) to access the system
After the assessment of the organizations system, stringent measures have also been put on the use of electronic devices in the organization. BYOD (bring your own device) policy has been implemented that prohibits staff from using their electronic devices to access the systems.
References
Biddle, S., & Milstead, J. A. (2016). The intersection of policy and informatics. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 47(2), 12-13. doi:10.1097/01.numa.0000479453.73651.89
Fleming, N. S., Becker, E. R., Culler, S. D., Cheng, D., McCorkle, R., Graca, B. D., & Ballard, D. J. (2013). The impact of electronic health records on workflow and financial measures in primary care practices. Health Services Research, 49(1pt2), 405-420. doi:10.1111/1475-6773.12133
Lin, Y., Lin, M., & Chen, H. (2019). Do electronic health records affect quality of care? Evidence from the HITECH Act. Information Systems Research, 30(1), 306-318. doi:10.1287/isre.2018.0813
Norris, B. J., Hinrichs, D. J., & Brown, D. A. (2015). Meaningful Use Clinical Quality Measures and Beyond: Meeting the Challenges of eMeasurement. Nursing Informatics Today, 30(1), 8-12 5p
The health information technology for economic and clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). (2009). PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi:10.1037/e500522017-001